Will 'The Dark Knight Rises' Earn More Money Than 'The Avengers'?

Warner Bros. / The Dark KnightBatman may not have enough steam to rise above "The Avengers."

When "The Dark Knight Rises" opens up at midnight batfans will hash out whether the film meets expectations; however, the other big ticket on people's minds is not if, but how this film will fit into the box-office records book.

Fans have been pitting TDKR as the must-see movie event of the year, so it only made sense for people to wonder how the Dark Knight will match up against "The Avengers," which shattered box-office opening weekend records earning an unexpected $207 million.

So, will the Caped Crusader beat out the Marvel crew at the box office?

So far, the answer is an outstanding "no" from The Wrap, Forbes, and other film sites.

Surely it has some elements to beat out "The Avengers" ticket sales (the hype, the capacity and success of its viral campaigns, the sell out of tickets in January–nearly seven months ahead of the film).

There are three factors being thrown around which will hold the Caped Crusader back from breaking all the records: demographic, 3-D, and showing counts.

Let's play the numbers game ...

Warner Bros.A lengthy two-hour and 45 minute film will lead to fewer screenings.

There will be less showings of "The Dark Knight Rises" than Marvel's "The Avengers."

Clocking in at a lengthy two hours and 45 minutes Nolan's final film is slightly longer than "The Avengers" two hours and 22 minutes.

Sure, this may lead to a few less screenings during the day (an extra 15 minutes can add up); however, how many fewer showings can this actually lead to in theaters?

This appears to be the least of "The Dark Knight Rises" worries. Why? For one, "The Avengers" was the longest of all the Marvel films–both "Iron Man 2" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" were two hours and four minutes– and people went out to see that because it was a hugely anticipated film.

As well, 2008's "The Dark Knight" was 152 minutes long–a whopping two hours and 30 minutes–and with an estimated worldwide gross of more than $1 billion to date, that film did just fine. TDK also sees the third-highest opening weekend of all time behind "The Avengers" and the final installment of "Harry Potter."

In addition, the majority of Nolan's films average around 2 hours, save "Following," so we find this is a moot point.

To combat the "fewer showings" theory and to meet the possibly high demand for the film, some AMC and Regal theaters around the country are keeping their theaters open all hours of the evening.

About 10% of Regal Cinemas will air the film anywhere from 24-72 hours. Both Regal and AMC Theaters will also offer screenings between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. with the latest showing we've seen at 5:00 a.m. in Cherry Hill, N.J.

"The Avengers" heavily relied on 3-D for its movie earnings.

There are no 3-D screenings of "The Dark Knight Rises."

If "The Dark Knight Rises" was released in 3-D, there's no question as to whether it would give "The Avengers" a closer run for its money; however, Nolan refused to have his final film converted into a cheap 3-D flick.

Why?

Simply put, Christopher Nolan dislikes 3-D, and doesn't believe movie goers should have to shell out the big bucks for a quickly converted film that's not up to par. It's one of the reasons we love him.

“I never meet anybody who actually likes the format, and it’s always a source of great concern to me when you’re charging a higher price for something that nobody seems to really say they have any great love for.

“It’s up to the audience to tell us how they want to watch the movies. More people go see these films in 2-D, and so it’s difficult data to interpret. And I certainly don’t want to shoot in a format just to charge people a higher ticket price.”

Paramount knew what they were doing when they released "The Avengers" in 3-D. It's not clear how much of the film's earnings were from 3-D ticket sales overall; however, most of the film's midnight showings were only available in the 3-D format.

Batman's not kid-friendly. Anyone who's parents were slaughtered and then dresses up like a bat can be slightly scary and give nightmares. What little kid wants to imagine how "The Dark Knight" Joker got his scars?

After the second film, it's safe to say Gotham's protector may be a bit too dark for the little ones.

While, for the most part, we agree, we're going to go slightly against the tide on this one.

We imagine 11, 12, 13 year-olds would still want to go out and see this film. Why? The same reason any kid goes out to see a film they're "not supposed" to see, because it's "the film" to see.

If word of mouth spreads that this is the must-see movie, then kids are going to find a way to see it. If it's the film you tell them not to see because it's "too dark" and "too violent," they'll want to see it. There's been so much hype out there, it's hard for kids to not want to see it.

With the recent cartoon, "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" and reruns of "Batman: The Animated Series" daily on Disney's The Hub, it's easy to make the connection that any kid seeing their favorite small screen superhero plastered on mountain dew cans, billboards, and TV ads, would be interested in witnessing him on the big screen.

Let's not forget there's been an entire line of "The Dark Knight Rises"-themed toys in stores around the country. Don't tell us kids of some capacity don't want to see the film.

So, where does this leave our silent guardian? What does Batman have going for him?